Emergency conservation action for owl survival
- Peter Valentine
- Feb 25
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 25
Peter Valentine | Conservation Officer
Many people have noticed the dramatic decline in owls in our environments all over Australia. Large numbers were found to have been killed by the Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGAR): poisons still openly available to all from some hardware stores and supermarkets.
Recently in Perth, Western Australia (WA) many dead Masked Owls were tested, and all were found to have these SGAR chemicals in their bodies. Other countries banned these chemicals long ago, but Australia has a pathetic excuse for a pesticide control system: the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA), the members of which represent the commercial interests of the manufacturers and sellers of these deadly chemicals.
Despite many pleas for action based on the scientific evidence, the APVMA has frittered away four years, and no doubt hundreds of dead owls, to come up with a clearly inappropriate decision to continue to allow open access to these deadly toxins, rather than restrict them to trained and licenced pest-controllers.
Here in northern Queensland, I have personally recorded many dead owls and noted much lower owl numbers in areas where they used to be common. It is understood that no formal monitoring of these sites has been done by anyone, and no post-mortems undertaken of dead fauna to detect the presence of SGARs.
However, in WA more work has been completed and the evidence is clear:
SGAR chemicals are present in the dead owls examined
It seems unbelievable that Australia’s Federal Government would ignore all the evidence provided by science, here and in other countries, and the good practices seen in other countries, and would put its faith in the compromised APVMA.
Options available to the public for appropriate conservation action is to make a submission to the APVMA Chemical Review (open to the public until 16 March 2026), and also write to the Federal Minister for the Environment, the man currently responsible for this fiasco, Queensland Senator Murray Watt.
I know many of us have written before with little success, but as momentum builds and more pressure is placed on the Federal Government with more evidence of the disastrous impacts on our native fauna, we must continue to advocate for ethical change.
To find out more, read the BirdLife Australia research about our largest owl species, the Powerful Owl, which is already highly Threatened. In 37 cases out of 38 dead Powerful Owls, the SGAR chemicals were present in those 37 owls.
New research from Edith Cowan University scientists in WA has found toxic or lethal levels of SGARs in EVERY owl tested from the south-west and Perth.
This confronting image (above) shows a line of dead Masked Owls in WA, every one of which was found to have SGAR chemicals in its body. No wonder the nights are becoming quiet as our owls die off in large numbers. Photo by Karen Majer, on BirdLife Australia SGAR Website.
These second-generation baits, especially Brodifacoum, don’t just kill the rodents. They ‘move up’ the food chain poisoning the animals that eat the rodents (eg owls and other bird species; reptiles; mammals such as quolls and family pets), causing them also to suffer prolonged internal bleeding and premature death.
A coalition has formed to try and fight this issue better, and there is a Facebook page for the Ban Owl Poison Alliance group with lots of information.
If you wish to act, first, write to the Australian Federal Minister for the Environment (the Hon Murray Watt) and let him know your concerns. Then you might easily make a submission to the APVMA Chemical Review, which closes 16 March 2026, so this is a call to action sooner rather than later please.
Here are some links with background information.
If you wish to read the details that the APVMA is proposing, you can consult its Chemical Review site with a link to the Gazettal:
I know most of us take delight in our wonderful owls and, for decades, we have recognised how significant they can be in controlling rats and other species that create problems for homes and farms.
Many years ago, when I first joined Terrain NRM, I recall a project that was specifically about building nest boxes in cane fields to encourage Barn Owls to set up homes and reduce the damage from cane rats. Sadly Barn Owls and many other species are now disappearing due to the failings of the APVMA and the easy availability/sale of toxic products (including Bunnings and the supermarkets Coles and Woolworths). These companies provide only limited, basic advisory material about these awful SGAR chemicals.
This is a moral failing from big businesses which claim to care about people and the environment but for which profit seems the only consideration.
I call out the pesticide industry, the APVMA, and the retailers who even considered that SGARs might be ethically appropriate.
These chemicals cause the rat (or other victim) to take much longer to die from the very painful process. It is no doubt during this extended mortality process that the rats slow down and become easy meat for the owls (and other predators including domestic pets), including with each body a fatal dose of toxins. The owls have no chance. Then they too die slowly and painfully.
This whole disgusting ethics-free situation simply enables pesticide manufacturers and their retail partners to make large profits. Where is the RSPCA when it is needed? Where are the voices in Parliament who should react to this situation? So much for animal welfare in Australia.
Please add your voice to the many who are now seeking much more responsible action from this APVMA, but more importantly, from the Minister who has the power to shut this down now.
